NEICN

20 May 2009

'To Buy or Not to Buy, or As You Hype it: Advertising on the Dublin Stage from 1742 to 1898' by Dr. Alison O' Malley- Younger (University of Sunderland).

She has published in the fields of contemporary critical theory, women's writing in Ireland, and Irish Drama, both contemporary and nineteenth century. She is currently working as part of the research team on a Leverhulme funded research project on Advertising and Commodity Culture in Irish Literature in the period between 1848 and 1921 for which she will be contributing to and editing the multi-authored volume of essays on Consumer Culture, Advertising and Literature in Ireland 1848-1921. She has edited, with Frank Beardow, Representing Ireland: Past, Present and Future, with John Strachan, Essays on Modern Irish Literature and with Paddy Lyons, No Country For Old Men: Fresh Perspectives on Irish Literature. Her current projects include Essential Criticism: Brian Friel for Palgrave Macmillan, and a monograph on Advertising in Nineteenth century Irish Theatre. Other projects include edited collections with John Strachan, entitled, Ireland at War and Peace for Cambridge Scholars Press and Ireland: Revolution and Evolution for Peter Lang, both expected in 2009.

22 April 2009

Following the success of the previous six international Irish Studies conferences, the University of Sunderland, in association with NEICN, is soliciting papers for an interdisciplinary conference, which will run from 13-15th November 2009. The conference will begin with a plenary lecture on 13th November; there will be a book launch and wine reception on the Friday evening and a ceilidh and conference banquet on Saturday 14th November.

The conference organisers hope to represent a wide range of approaches to Irish culture from academics and non-academics alike. Performances, roundtables, collaborative projects, and other non-traditional presentations are encouraged in addition to conference papers. We welcome both individual submissions and proposals for panels. As with previous year’s conference, we welcome submissions for panels and papers under the thematic headings of Fantasy Ireland : Imaginings and Re-imaginings in the following areas: Literature, Performing Arts, History, Politics, Folklore and Mythology, Ireland in Theory, Gender and Ireland Anthropology, Sociology, Geography, Tourism, Art and Art History, Music, Dance, Media and Film Studies, Cultural Studies, and Studies of the Diaspora. North American and other international scholars, practitioners in the arts, and postgraduate students are all encouraged to submit proposals to the conference organisers.

Each session will include three or four 20-minute presentations each followed by discussion. A selection of the accepted papers will be subsequently published in the conference proceedings.The University of Sunderland houses the North East Irish Culture Network, established in 2003 to further the study of Irish Literature and Culture (see www.neicn.com). It has held six previous conferences. Previous speakers include Terry Eagleton, Robert Welch, Luke Gibbons, Ailbhe Smith, Kevin Barry, Siobhan Kilfeather, Shaun Richards, Lance Pettitt, Stephen Regan, Lord David Puttnam, Andrew Carpenter, John Nash and Willy Maley, with readings from Ciaran Carson Medbh McGuckian, Bernard O’Donoghue and Eilis Ni Dhuibhne. In 2008, the English department at Durham was the recipient of a Leverhulme Major Research Grant to sponsor its project ‘Consumer Culture, Advertising and Literature in ireland 1848-1921’.

15 April 2009

'The Development of Modern Consumer Culture in Dublin: Department Stores and the Irish Industrial Exhibition of 1853' by Dr Stephanie Rains (NUI Maynooth).

Stephanie is the Subject Leader in the Centre for Media Studies, she also co-ordinate and teach on a number of modules on the BA in Media Studies, as well as co-ordinating the MA in Radio and TV Production. Her research interests include Irish and Irish-American popular culture, including television, film and popular cultural practices such as tourism and shopping. Stephanie's doctoral thesis, completed at Dublin City University in 2003, examined the ways in which late-20thC Irish-American identity was created through the consumption of Irish-themed popular culture. Her book entitled The Irish American in Popular Culture, 1945-2000, was published by Irish Academic Press in 2007.

Stephaine has continued to research 20th century Irish and Irish-American material, but her current research focuses on 19th century Irish popular culture, with a particular emphasis on commodity culture.

28 February 2009

'Look Back in Hunger: Ireland in Famine's Wake from Munster to The Maze, or The Faerie Queene to Steve McQueen ' by Professor Willy Maley (University of Glasgow)

Professor Willy Maley is a Fellow of the English Association (FEA). He has published widely on English Renaissance Literature, from Spenser to Milton, and on aspects of early modern and modern Scottish and Irish culture, from James Joyce to Alasdair Gray. He is the author of A Spenser Chronology (1994), Salvaging Spenser: Colonialism, Culture and Identity (1997), and Nation, State and Empire in English Renaissance Literature: Shakespeare to Milton (2003). He is editor, with Andrew Hadfield, of A View of the Present State of Ireland: From the First Published Edition (1997). He has also edited five collections of essays: with Brendan Bradshaw and Andrew Hadfield, Representing Ireland: Literature and the Origins of Conflict, 1534-1660 (Cambridge University Press, 1993); with Bart Moore-Gilbert and Gareth Stanton, Postcolonial Criticism (Longman, 1997); with David J. Baker, British Identities and English Renaissance Literature (Cambridge University Press, 2002); with Andrew Murphy, Shakespeare and Scotland (Manchester University Press, 2004); and with Alex Benchimol, Spheres of Influence: Intellectual and Cultural Publics from Shakespeare to Habermas (Peter Lang, 2006).Willy has published with Argyll Publishing, Ashgate, Barnes and Noble, Blackwell, the British Council, Cambridge Scholar’s Press, Cambridge University Press, Capercaillie Press, Clydeside Press, Continuum Press, Duquesne University Press, Edinburgh University Press, Fitzroy Dearborn, Four Courts Press, Freight Design, Greenwood Press, Longman, Manchester University Press, MIT Press, Oxford University Press, Palgrave Macmillan, Peking University Press, Peter Lang, Prentice Hall, Rodopi, Routledge, St Martin’s Press, Sulis Press, Sunderland University Press, Universitätsverlag C. Winter Press, and University of Toronto Press. His work has appeared in forty different journals and magazines, and has been translated into several languages, including Chinese and German.

Willy founded, with Philip Hobsbaum, the Creative Writing Master's at Glasgow in 1995. The course has since become one of the most successful of its kind, producing a host of published writers and prizewinners, including Anne Donovan, Rachel Seiffert and Louise Welsh.

Willy has been a Visiting Professor at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire (1997), and was the first recipient of the Gerard Manley Hopkins Visiting Professorship at John Carroll University in Cleveland (1998). Research interests range from the representation of national and colonial identities in early modern texts through to deconstruction and postcolonialism. Willy is presently working on the depiction of Britain in Milton and Shakespeare.

His own interests for postgraduate supervision are contemporary Irish and Scottish writing; creative writing; literary theory; and Renaissance literature (focusing on colonialism and national identity).

20 November 2008

Helen O'Connell's research interests lie in the fields of Irish literature and culture; British writing and educational theory of the Romantic period; and the relationship betwen literature and modernisation. In particular, her work to date has focused on 'improvement' (principally in the form of fictional pamphlets and instructional manuals) and literary culture in Ireland from the Romantic period through to the Irish Revival. She is the author of Ireland and the Fiction of Improvement (Oxford University Press, 2006).Current research includes a study of the relationship between fiction and education in the early nineteenth century.

17 November 2008

The conference was a big success with around 80 delegates from the UK, Europe and America, plus the Lady Mayor, and some extra guests at the banquet. NEICN give special thanks to Professor Flavia Swann who did so much, and the Glasgow University staff: Will, Paddy and Matt Mcguire and also to Colin, Vikki, Gemma, Bernie and Mel who co-ordinated the conference so well and to all attendees. Thanks also to the Inchigeelagh Irish Dance Academy who provided a number of fine displays. ITV News visited the conference and gave us an excellent article on the local news. We will post the video of the news item as soon as we can acquire a copy and video highlights of keynote speeches will follow over the coming weeks. In the mean time, do check out our picture galleries and get in touch with any feedback.

One delegate commented that; 'You know what I am going to say: I had a lovely time as usual. I know how much work goes on behind the scenes and how exhausted and mad it makes you feel, but it was well worth it. I met lots of old Sunderland conferences buddies and made several new buddies too. I came home with bulging notes of things I have to read, and new and interesting connections so it was a success on all levels.'

Another said that; Thanks for having me to speak at the conference - you did such a tremendous job and all your hard work really paid off; it was a great weekend. It was lovely to see you and to catch up. See you again soon, I hope. I'll definitely hope to be back in Sunderland again.'

About Me

The North East Irish Cultural Network (NEICN) is an academic association based at the Universities of Sunderland and Durham. It seeks to promote and encourage the study and teaching of all aspects of the society, culture and literature of the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Irish Diaspora. NEICN organises seminars, symposia and conferences for scholars, Ph.D. students, teachers and other interested parties as well as hosting cultural events such as dance performances, poetry readings and musical evenings for the benefit of the community. NEICN also encourages discussion among members on topics of Irish interest, and promote and enhance the interest in Irish studies within the North of England and beyond.